I had two visits from my late cat Puck recently. The first time was last month. I was resting on top of my bed, facing the wall, when I felt the distinct sensation of a cat paw touch my leg. I turned, fully expecting to see Luna looking at me from the edge of the bed, but nope. She was sleeping near the foot of the bed, on the opposite side. Smiling, I said, “Hello, Puck.” Then I was inspired to write this blog post.

Then yesterday, while I was sitting at my computer desk, I distinctly felt a paw bat my elbow. Again, I looked down expecting to see Luna, who was nowhere in sight. I think Puck was reminding me that I still hadn’t edited and posted this.

His first recent visit got me to thinking about cats, breeds of cats, and how I’ve come to have the cats that I have now.

The first really special cat that came into my life was Clive, a hard-of-hearing flame point Siamese. We were brought together via another cat in my life, a domestic gray and white shorthair named Jay. It was Jay who became friends with Clive, and I would see them playing together in the backyard of the triplex I lived in with my mother. Eventually, I became friends with Clive. He was eccentric and highly intelligent—he understood the concept of doorknobs, for instance, but could not quite get enough of a grip on the thing with his two paws to actually open the door.

Sadly, I only had him for a few years. I came home from work one day to find him dead on the bedroom floor. I had him autopsied (and kudos to the wonderful vet and vet tech who stayed late to perform the procedure, and never even charged me–yup–they did it for free) and the culprit was heart failure. I missed my eccentric blue-eyed boy for a long time.

Flash forward a few years and Anne and I are living together for the first time. We are sharing a crappily built mother-in-law unit in Queen Anne. We have our first Schipperke (the scary territorial Lucy) and I realized I needed to have a cat again. However, Anne at the time was severely allergic. So, after some research, I narrowed my possible choices down to either a Sphynx or a Devon Rex.

Not too long afterwards, a Devon Rex kitten was posted in the classified ads of the local paper (this was before I had a personal computer or internet access at home). As fate would have it, the breeder was a customer of the company I worked for at the time. He brought baby Puck into the office.

Baby Puck was not at all what I had visualized my future cat looking like. I’d hoped for either a black or a white cat, and he was sort of a pointed champagne color, and very skinny looking because his adult fur had not grown in yet. But the moment I held him, I was in love. I asked a co-worker who was also a cat lover if she would like to hold him, but when I went to hand him to her, Puck leaned back into me as though he did not want to leave my arms. That moment sealed the deal–he was mine.

Moving forward a few years, and Anne and I were living in separate apartments in the same building. I was at a different job, and took the bus up north to Bothell. On the way home, my bus traveled right by a small pet store and, lo and behold, in the window—flamepoint Siamese kittens! I still missed my Clive and so made it a point to stop there the next day.

And that’s how I found Snowman. I think he may have been a kitten mill cat, as he developed health problems early on. Personality-wise, he was not much like Clive. While he shared Clive’s high intelligence and talkative nature, he was not particularly goofy. Snowman was loving but also very no-nonsense and stoic. After some initial bickering, he and Puck became the brothers they were meant to be. It was with these two cats that I realized how much I loved these two particular breeds.

Flash forward again to 2008. I lost Puck to cancer, and it was heartbreaking. Perhaps I should have waited longer, but I decided to begin searching for another Rex after learning from my animal communicator that my next cat would be a female. I find Luna, and although her personality is not as outgoing and in your face as Puck’s, she and I gradually developed a bond that is just as deep and intense (I think of her as Puck’s little sister now). Luna and Snowman developed a love/hate relationship–I think they did care about each other but Luna was a young goofball which irritated the no-nonsense older Snowman. Then, in 2013 I lost Snowman to cancer. I resolved that, because I am not a man of great financial means, I would stick to just one cat.

But then in late 2013, I got a message from Tracy, my animal communicator, asking if it was me who had said I was looking for a Siamese. I told her no, it wasn’t. And then she shows me a photo of Casper. Casper is built like Snowman but something about his eyes reminds me of Clive.

I was sorely tempted to say yes but decided to wait, telling Tracy to see if others were interested in him. When no one came forward, Tracy generously offered to drive Casper from Gig Harbor to my home. He was very bold and immediately stepped out of his crate, looking around our condo like he owned the place. There was a lot of friction and some all-out scary fighting between him and Luna at first, but they are gradually getting more used to each other.

The interesting thing to me is that, in spite of my plans to stay with one cat, Casper found his way to me. And now I once again have a Devon Rex and a flamepont Siamese. I think of them as my alien and my mini white lion. And we have a Schipperke again too, the much nicer Stella. And so the pattern repeats itself.

I’ve been sitting on this post for just over two and a half weeks. It’s tricky to write about messages from the guides and the Lwa. I have to decide what to share and what to keep private. While I like to record my experiences here, some things cannot be shared for privacy or practical reasons. But I’ll share what I can…

This session took place on August 11th.

Early in the session, the Lwa came through. My medium, Tracy, is not a Vodouisant so she was not sure of all of their identities. I was able to identify one, but not the others. I will refrain from naming the one I did identify for practical reasons. While they offered words of encouragement, some of their advice also had to do with protecting myself. And the one identified said I could go to him/her for protection, so I think it best if s/he remains unknown for now.

They told me that a lot of the work I’ve been doing over the past few years has been paying off. Much of this work has been aimed toward removing my psychic blocks so that I could be better attuned to them, the ancestors, my guides and deities. They said it’s been easier for the spirits to get through and that the energy has been flowing more freely in both directions. This made me very happy, as I’ve invested a fair amount of time and money to resolve my issues. For this, I can expect a higher amplitude of energetic exchange. They did advise me to pay attention to grounding, as it’s easy for me to take off in my head. When they said this, I immediately thought of someone I know who lives very much in the spiritual realm. The downside is that she rarely seems fully present in this one. I was told that I am not supposed to take off too much as I might not return. My body would be here, but my brain wouldn’t be. (Tracy was shown Alzheimer’s as an example.) It would take away from me.

I was also cautioned that someone is “coming at me.” I have not been aware of any attacks really, but I credit that mostly to the Lwa and my other guides rather than to any super ability on my part. Having a Lave Tet certainly didn’t hurt either.

One of the things that touched me the most is that they told me there is an integrity around my relationship with them. This was gratifying to hear, because I try very hard to maintain my objectivity (without overdoing it, which can be my downfall) and to accept experiences without embellishing them with my own desires. They also told me that my altar does not need to get bigger (audible sigh of relief here, as I am currently trying to figure out where to relocate the Ghede and still have not resolved the issue). Another moving and surprising thing they told me is that in some fashion I’ve helped to “pull those that transition into it (Vodou).” They made a comment that some who have transitioned are part of the group now. I like thinking that friends who have crossed over in recent years could be attending future fets. It brings me much comfort.

Random info from other guides: They said it’s getting easier for me to maneuver around/through/in (I think they were referring here to the astral planes). I am good at paying attention, even past the “whoa” moments (meaning even when something incredible happens, I keep some presence of mind to notice details). I was advised to pay attention to the foods I eat; I should eat more greens, which I’d already been thinking about. If I understood correctly, greens can assist in spiritual development. They told me when I need to ground myself I can eat meat (they advised white meats rather than red). “Eating greens will help your mind. Eating meat helps the body. You are doing a good job of staying away from bad things.” I haven’t felt that I’ve been doing that great of a job on maintaining a healthy diet, but I am grateful for the encouragement.

And now for the stupid question, which I mentioned in a previous post. I asked them if I get to leave soon. And yes, I meant death. I’m not suicidal but I sometimes get very worn down and tired, and eager to cross over to the other side. Plus I’ve been thinking about death a lot recently due to the loss of a friend and another friend’s serious illness.

The answer was a firm no, as apparently I chose this life and am in it “for the long haul.” I have mixed feelings about this (I am, at times, the king of mixed feelings). However, they are telling me to move past this latest bout of obsessing. And now that I know I’ll be here for a while, I feel free to make some long range plans.

Overall, the guides and the Lwa are satisfied with the work I’ve been doing for them. And then they said, “If you are having to work on anything, it’s keeping the human bullshit away. Work on protection.” That got a laugh out of me.

I got to say hello to my beloved Puck (for new readers, Puck was my feline companion of nearly 15 years). He is still around, keeping an eye on me, as there is lots of activity. Last year I had a dream about my mother (who crossed over in the 80’s) driving my Siamese cat Snowman and I to a vet. In the dream another cat was at the vet’s office. Although the cat appeared to be an Oriental shorthair or Burmese rather than a Rex like Puck, I’ve been wondering if perhaps the cat was actually Puck, so I asked him. Puck confirmed that he was there.

Then I said hello to Snowman, who crossed over earlier this year. Tracy said he was laughing as he greeted me, and said he is walking with me. Ever the one to seek confirmation even when I already know the answers, I asked him to identify the man in the last dream I had with Snowman in it. Cats don’t play the sorts of mental games that we play, so he simply responded with, “You know him.” Again, I had to laugh.

As I mentioned before in this post, I’ve been puzzled as to why the pain of losing Puck lessened a great deal after Snowman crossed over. I’ve been mourning Puck pretty intensely for five entire years and Snowman’s passing hit me hard as well. You would think I would be feeling doubly horrible. But no, after I went through the initial grief of losing Snowman, the aching pain I carried in my solar plexus for Puck began to fade. So I took advantage of this opportunity to ask Snowman about that.

He said he realized he could do more for me out of his body. He has more malleability now. He said he “worked on” me. The idea of Snowman as healer doesn’t surprise me. He was always a wise cat, and tireless in providing me support.

Following the conversation with Snowman, I asked Tracy some questions about my current feline companion Luna and our dog Stella. I asked about my mother, and Tracy saw an image of her watching over me, smiling, and welcoming me to talk to her more.

After these sessions with Tracy, I always feel uplifted and have lots to think about. This time was no exception.

Note: I realize I mentioned in my last post that this one would be about the lave tet, but there was too much material to cover to fit it all in one post. So the actual lave tet will be discussed in the next installment, so that I can keep events in somewhat of a chronological order.

I arrived in Philadelphia late Friday afternoon, then headed over to Sosyete du Marche for dinner. There were already maybe 7 or 8 people gathered around the table when I walked in the door, as well as two dogs roaming the dining room–a handsome black standard poodle and a cute little shih tzu whose hair was clipped short for the summer. And finally, I got to meet Mambo Pat, who exudes the same warmth and good-natured humor in person as she does online. I sat down and shared a wonderful meal of pasta, salad and bread.

Normally, I am very self-conscious in unfamiliar settings with people I don’t know very well, but this time I was surprisingly relaxed. This was more than a Vodou group–it felt like I was a new in-law or not-too-distant relative at an informal family gathering. It turned out there would be nine of us receiving the lave tet, and to reduce her work load on Saturday, Mambo told us she would read the cards for the three of us who were at the dinner that night. The reading is included with the lave tet, and reveals which lwa are currently walking with you. While I waited for my reading, I helped out in the kitchen washing dishes, which can be meditative for me.

When it was my turn, I went downstairs into the hounfò. It’s a beautiful room, with two long altars set up along the back wall, one for the ocean lwa: Met Agwe, La Sirene and La Balenn, and one for the Petro lwa. In the center of the room, in traditional style, was a square poteau mitan, complete with a low altar platform built around it. Several assons (rattles used by mambos and houngans) hung from the column.

I sat in a low chair next to the center altar, with Mambo Pat facing me a couple of feet away. A houngan and a mambo also sat in on the reading and occasionally offered advice and suggestions. Mambo handed me the New Orleans Voodoo tarot deck and told me to shuffle the cards until she said stop, which I did.

Now, I am not sure exactly when Mambo left and Legba arrived, but at some point very early in the reading, I was aware that he was there. Mambo’s voice changed, taking on a slower relaxed cadence and an accent. The usual alert look in her eyes was replaced by the confident gaze of an old man. The other mambo handed him a cigarette, which he enjoyed while we talked.

It’s an amazing and deeply moving feeling to speak physically to a lwa. I am not going to describe very much of what was in the cards, mainly because it was a personal reading and would not be of use to anyone else. Of course, Legba showed up in the cards, in the met tet position, although it was his Petro aspect. What was really surprising is that none of the ocean lwa showed up in the cards. This was highly unusual. In previous readings I’d had with Mambo C and Mambo Racine, the suite of cups were all over the place. I still believe Met Agwe and La Sirene are with me–my current thought on the matter is that it was a nine card reading, and perhaps it was more important at this time for other lwa and information to come through. Four new lwa are now with me, including the Marassa (whom I mention here because of something that would happen the following day). I had no clue how I was going to come up with altar space for them, and made a mental note to seek Mambo C’s help once I returned to Seattle.

After Legba explained the cards, he asked me if I had any questions, and of course my mind went momentarily blank. I tried to think, as who knew when I’d have an opportunity like this again. I thanked him for his patience with me, and he commented that the world is a loud place, but they (the lwa) keep trying to get through. And then, me being me, I said, “I know you love dogs.” (And as soon as the word ‘dogs’ passed my lips, we could hear Mambo Pat’s dogs start barking vigorously upstairs.) “What about cats?” I had to ask this question, because when Legba first appeared to me, Puck was with him.

Legba looked at me with his relaxed steady gaze, and took a drag from his cigarette. “Sure, I like dogs,” he said, and then went on to explain that he values not just dogs, but all creatures. He expressed great displeasure towards those who treat animals with disrespect.

He also scolded me a little for spreading myself too thin, telling me I needed to choose one path. And he was completely right about that. Throughout my adult life, I’ve scattered my energies all over the place, which has not helped me progress at all. We talked about art a little, and I will never forget what he told me. “When you create something you are truly satisfied with, God smiles.” To me, this means that the creative process is, in a very real sense, an offering of great value. I just wanted to share that with the artists, dancers, writers and other creative types who read this blog.

The conversation was over far too soon, but Papa promised he would talk to me the following evening. And I was left with an even deeper love for this lwa. Ayibobo.

I just finished reading Sylvia Browne’s “Life on the Other Side.” I enjoyed it quite a bit, although I question her belief that there are no insects on the others side (when all other living creatures seem to be there). I am not a fan of insects in particular, but life is life. I also question her belief that humans do not incarnate as other species…that you are created as the species you are and stay that way. As someone who believes in therianthropy, that belief invalidates my own personal experience and that of people like author Linda Tucker, but who knows. There are a variety of explanations for differences in experience, and she could be right. Or perhaps cross-species incarnations are not common *shrugs.* I still enjoyed the book, and her descriptions of the other side are quite beautiful, even if they do appear to be viewed through a slight Christian and Eurocentric lens.

After reading two of Browne’s books fairly close together (the last one being “Afterlives of the Rich and Famous”), I was craving a change in viewpoint, so I started reading John Edward’s “Infinite Quest.” Like Linda Tucker’s book on the white lions, Edward’s book was also part of an introductory book club package (although I did choose this book because I loved John Edward’s television show “Crossing Over,” whereas I knew little about Linda Tucker before reading her book).

I did not realize that “Infinite Quest” is basically a 101 course in psychic development. This discovery both surprised and pleased me, as I am always interested in and open to suggestions on developing that muscle. However, as this book contains exercises you are supposed to do as you read each chapter, it is not a good book to read on the bus, where I do most of my reading these days. So, my bus book is now Edward’s earlier book “Crossing Over,” which is autobiographical. So now I am treating myself to a double-dose of John Edward, which is a lot of fun.

One of the things that really hit home for me in “Infinite Quest” is in Chapter One, where he talks about the five psychic senses:

Just as we have five psychic senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting, we have psychic ones that correlate…

Clairvoyance–clear seeing

Clairaudience–clear hearing

Clairsentience–clear feeling

Clairalience–clear smelling

Clairambience–clear tasting

I would like to be the first person to tell you that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CLEAR about any of the above experiences at all. I jokingly think that they should be called instead subtle-voyance, subtle-audience, et cetera . . . you get the point.

—John Edward from “Infinite Quest”

Ever since Puck crossed over and I began this spiritual journey into Vodou and attuning myself to the spirit world, I’ve been constantly reminded about how wrong my ideas about psychic experience were. Sylvia Browne hates the word ‘imagination’ because it’s used so often to dismiss experiences that don’t take place in the solid physical world. For many years I had the mistaken belief that I was not very psychically gifted at all. I knew that I had a very vivid imagination, however and, like most westerners, thought the two were very separate.

And that is where the learning curve gets a bit tricky. We all have some ability in imagination, visualization and, I truly believe, psychic ability. But how do we know what is imagination and what is psychic information?

When receiving a reading from a psychic, John Edward recommends you ask yourself if anything they said was validated by your experience. Did they tell you anything specific about your past, present or someone you know? If not, then you should probably take what they say with a grain of salt.

But again, this is trickier when you are acting as your own psychic. How do you know if the information you receive is real or just wishful thinking?

There are no easy answers to this and you will need to set aside your ego and emotions, which is not an easy task.

One of my truth vs imagination gauges is to ask myself if the information is something I’d be likely to imagine on my own. For example, at a Zimbate healing workshop, the students were asked to contact their healing guide and listen for a name. I did not get a name during the workshop, but did receive one the following day. I saw it in my mind’s eye, written on a piece of yellow notebook paper. It was a foreign-sounding name, one that I was completely unfamiliar with. And when I googled it, I found that it was indeed a real name, although there was some question as to whether it was Hawaiian or Meso-American in origin. Because it was a name so outside of my experience, I accepted this information as legitimate, more so than I would have if the name was one I expected to hear. While this particular “vision” was fairly clear, some of the information I receive is much less so.

During an animal communication workshop with Tracy Ann, we were instructed to ask one of Tracy’s dog for his nickname. I got an impression of the word “donkey” and immediately doubted it, thinking that it could not be right. As it turned out, it was not exactly right, but close. This time, I “heard” the word rather than “saw” it. The dog’s nickname turned out to be “monkey,” as he liked to climb up tall haystacks. While I did not interpret the information clearly, you can easily see the similarity in the two words. Neither word was one that I would associate with a dog. In this instance, I was lucky because the situation was one where another person could validate the information for me.

During the Intuitive Bootcamp workshop I took with Shannon Knight, I often found myself accessing personal information psychically that would be difficult to validate outside of myself. It has always been a challenge for me to get past my inner critic/skeptic and accept things as I experience them. I am getting better at it. I’m not saying that one should not question one’s experience; more that you should refrain from intensive questioning while you are receiving the information. Once the immediate experience is over there will be plenty of time to digest, question, analyze and reach your own conclusion. When you are receiving information about past lives it can be difficult if not impossible to obtain validation from the outside, especially if the particular life is a very old one or you lived in a remote area or the location is not specific. Most of us were not famous historical figures (and, honestly, if I saw myself as one I would be questioning the information like crazy). During many of the bootcamp exercises, images I saw in my mind’s eye did not feel much different from many of my more detailed imaginings (with the exception of one vision that had both visual and audio stimuli). The main difference was intention—when I am planning an art project (and this would not apply to the many projects that pop up in my mind on their own), I am deliberately visualizing color, materials, construction and methods of problem-solving and so naturally the images are largely what I expect to see. In the bootcamp, my intention was to receive an answer to a question, but then I would attempt to keep my mind open to whatever might appear.

In the Vodou realm, my experiences with both La Sirene and Agwe were subtle as well. The first direct experience of La Sirene that I am aware of was on a bus. I was lightly dozing when I felt someone sit down next to me. When I opened my eyes and saw the empty seat next to me, I fortunately had the presence of mind to quickly close my eyes and see what impressions I might receive. And I saw a lovely mulatto or Latina woman in a blue and white dress. This impression, while fairly clear, was still not too different in feel from what we call “imagination.” A brief vision I had of being on a beach with Agwe was very similar. In the past, my skeptical mind might have dismissed them as wishful thinking.

So before you assume that you have zero psychic ability, I would suggest that you examine your expectations about how such information manifests itself. Those subtle nudgings and images that you dismiss as daydreaming or imagination could be something more, and you may be more attuned than you think.

Today I called an old friend who I haven’t talked to in well over a year, possibly two. I’ve meant to call her many times, but then got busy in the evenings or remembered when I was at work or in bed.

I first met “Kim” back in the 80’s when we both worked at a photo processing lab. We were both new to Seattle and became friends, even though in many ways we were very different. I was quiet and often depressed back then, while she was social and lively. In spite of our differences, we began hanging out together outside of work and subsequently discovered we had a number of things in common, including an interest in art and spirituality.

This nagging feeling that I needed to call her wouldn’t let up, plus I thought it would be nice to surprise her close to her birthday. She was kind of surprised, I think, but not as much as I thought she would be. Apparently we are very connected, as she’d been thinking about calling me for the past three months.

Anyway, the reason this reunion is even mentioned here is that she reminded me of something that happened shortly after Puck crossed over that I’d clean forgotten about.

Kim knew how much I loved my cat Puck. So, after he crossed over, she asked her medium friend about him. Through the medium, Puck told her that he’d decided to cross over in order to create an opportunity for me, something that I would seek to fill the void caused by his passing.

Today, in our conversation, I finally realized what he was talking about, thanks to Kim. After Puck’s passing, the one thing I wanted most in the world was to be able to communicate with the dead. This led to my immersion in Vodou, a religion with central tenets of ancestor reverence. So the void was filled with Vodou, and I feel spiritually fuller than I ever have before in this life.

Last month the person who is going to be a new mentor to me gave me a one-card oracle reading, which correlated quite accurately to where I am in life at the moment. Here is the reading in its entirety:

For every new ambition, relationship, and experience you seek at this time, there’s a commitment in place that must be eliminated to make way for the new. Current routines, habits and even types of free time must be sacrificed so that you can open up to new energies. Your Master Teacher is present, urging you to identify what must go. Be honest in your assessment, and be realistic and thoughtful in setting your goals so that you don’t overreach and fail. To reach for something greater, you must first let go of what’s in your hand.

I’ve been feeling this way for quite some time—the urge to throw stuff away and to prioritize my interests, maybe even drop some of them altogether. This is difficult sometimes, as I have so many interests: art, writing, Vodou, the occult, some computer games, movies, reading, musical instruments (wanting to learn flute and drums), animal health, etc. In the past I’ve pushed myself in too many directions at once, which resulted in a little progress in several areas but great strides in none. As my commitment to Vodou and my artwork deepens, I am finding that my time management skills are in need of immediate improvement.

I spent last weekend at Norwescon, one of the larger science fiction and fantasy conventions in the Seattle area. I caught up with some friends, attended several panels and film previews, and participated in the art show (even selling one piece, which made me happy). On Sunday there was a paranormal fair in one of the ballrooms near the art show, which I’d been looking forward to all weekend. I arrived there just after they opened at 10 a.m.

The first thing I did was take a telepathy-based ESP test from Philemon of Elemental Entertainment. I scored rather average. Part of the reason for this might be because I suffer from performance anxiety, and have trouble focusing when others are watching me. I have materials at home for this type of testing and really should retest myself soon and see if I fare any better.

Next, I stopped at the table belonging to the Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore to try out their spirit box, which is a small wooden box with a voice chip inside that can produce phonetic sounds. You ask it a question and then plug it in and listen. I decided to address my question to Puck which, in retrospect, might have not been the best idea. Initially I did not think it would be a problem because I talk to Puck through Tracy Ann with little difficulty; however, Tracy Ann is not a voice chip. Her brain can convert Puck’s message into language which humans can understand. After I asked my question, I placed my hand on top of the box and plugged it in. What I heard was a long jumble of syllables which reminded me of people speaking in tongues. I could not pick out many recognizable words among those sounds which contained many ‘y’ and ‘l’ combinations. Here is a list of words I may have heard, but none of them were clear: fuel, Uriel, lair, young, lua [lwa?], aerie or airy, a hair, omni, Jeremiah, admiral, lord, le ear. The experience was rather disappointing, but I’d be willing to give the box another try if the opportunity should arise again.

I had initially planned on staying at the Northwest Museum table and getting a tarot reading there, but while I was using the spirit box I noticed that there was a $5.00 fee for the reading. Now, normally I would consider that a very good bargain for a tarot reading, but I’d already spent most of my money at the convention and, seeing as how I was not in desperate need of a reading, I really did not want to spend anything there. (This would turn out to be one of those “coincidental” circumstances that pushes me in a direction that I am meant to go.) So I got up and wandered over to the table of the Seattle Metaphysical Library. A young man with a tattoo sleeve was sitting quietly there with a tarot deck. He introduced himself as Jaxob and said he was giving free readings. He told me to shuffle the deck while thinking about my question (I did not speak it out loud), and then to set the cards down and cut the deck in half. I decided to ask the spirits to show me what I needed to know about my spiritual path.

Jaxob picked up the two stacks, then laid out three cards: the Page of Swords, the Queen of Swords and the Ten of Swords. He asked me what was the first thing that I noticed about the cards, and I replied that there were a lot of swords. He explained that this represented someone who exists on the mental/intellectual level (which would be me–not by choice, but a strong intellectual/skeptical side appears to be part of my makeup). The Ten of Swords (the image is of a man lying face-down with ten swords sticking out of his back) represented the end of this type of existence, and the beginning of one more based on emotion. He interpreted the Queen of Swords to indicate that I should work with a female deity towards this goal.

He asked me if there was a particular female deity I worked with, and I told him that I used to be Wiccan but now practiced Vodou, and we had a brief conversation about Vodou. As it turned out, he is a friend of Mambo C’s. Small world.

He thought the Queen of Swords might represent Erzulie Dantor, but was not sure. I am thinking perhaps I should be paying more attention to La Sirene–partly due to the association of water with emotions, and also because of the watery sensation that Angel felt in my third eye when she aligned my chakras. Plus La Sirene has been with me on this journey all along, and I feel I’ve not been giving several of the lwa as much attention as they deserve lately, with the exception of Legba. But I will keep Dantor in mind, and see if anything else occurs that suggests I should be serving her as well.

Note: Any interpretation errors are likely mine and not Jaxob’s…I did not take thorough notes during the reading and am writing this largely by memory.

What struck me about Jaxob’s reading was that it reminded me of last month’s oracle reading…both with themes of change, spiritual growth and giving up old things to make way for the new.

In conclusion, I’ll mention that I got my tax refund today. For quite some time I’ve been planning to buy a Playstation. I enjoy computer gaming, but have never spent much time with console games. Plus it could double as a blu-ray player, which I’ve been wanting to buy. However, in light of this second card reading echoing the first one, I am thinking of passing on that idea and just settling for a simple blu-ray player. Besides saving money, I will be sparing myself of yet another time-consuming, income-chomping hobby that will take me away from my artwork and spiritual studies.

On Thursday March 3rd, at 3:30pm, I had another session with my friend and animal communicator/medium, Tracy Ann. I love these sessions with Tracy, not only because I get to converse with loved ones who have crossed over, but also simply because I love the woman herself.

Back in January I’d been feeling very depressed. Then I realized the reason why: it was the anniversary of Puck’s passing. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone for three years. Unlike two other cats I lived with who crossed over years before Puck, the passage of time does not seem to affect how often I think about him (daily). It had been a while since I’d last spoken with him, so I decided to set an appointment with Tracy.

As the session began, Puck came through immediately. Tracy said that his presence was so strong that it was almost tangible, as though she could reach out and touch him. Puck said that he’s been busy working with, around and through me, and that things are starting to move faster. I was not sure which things he was referring to, but I am guessing he means life in general. I certainly have been feeling that time has sped up lately, and have had problems keeping up with it and accomplishing the things I need to get done.

Puck said he’s been moving through our place fast. He showed Tracy an image of him running through the condo. This was interesting, because a couple of weeks before that, while Anne and I were eating dinner, I thought I saw a small cat-sized figure rush by my feet in a blur of movement. (Both of our cats were upstairs at the time, in the bedroom with the door closed.)

Puck said there are surprises coming my way (not bad ones). Tracy saw these as gifts. Puck said that I won’t have a lot to do; to just sit back and relax. He also said that he’d been waiting for me to call him [through Tracy], but knew I was waiting for the right time.

When I asked Tracy to tell Puck that I love him, Puck sighed and replied, “You always say that.” I had to laugh. Animals don’t need to hear things verbally the way we do. They know we love them by our actions and our emotions. The fact that he is so sure of my love that I don’t have to tell him means a lot to me.

Via Tracy, I also talked to Snowman and Luna (our two cats), as well as a few other animals who have crossed over.

I talked with Anne’s late father, who kept showing Tracy a gold key on a gold chain. Both Anne and I are puzzled about this, and hope the meaning will become clear later on.

I talked to Marie a little, asking some questions on behalf of Anne’s mother. Most of that conversation is for Anne’s mother only, so I won’t go into details here, but it was nice to know that Marie is doing okay.

When Tracy asked me if there was anyone else I wanted to talk to, I reminded her of how Legba first spoke to me through her in one of our sessions. I asked her if she would see if he had anything to say. Instead of approaching him directly, she asked if there was anyone who wanted to say anything.

Almost immediately, she began hearing a drum. A big, deep, bold drum. She thought it had a Norse sound (as opposed to a Native American sound, which she is more familiar with). I thought perhaps she could be hearing African or Afro Caribbean drums, which can be very powerful. She was not sure about this though, as she is not familiar with those styles.

Tracy got the sense of thunder and lightning, which prompted a joke on my part about the time I was almost struck by lightning on my way to work. Her voice got softer as though she was speaking from a distance:

“But you call it to you. Lot of power. Interaction. Be careful what you say. We are always listening. Gotten better at that. Tempest. Temple? Storm. Drive or need got stronger. Storm. Within you, calling the drums, rhythm. That calms the storm. Gonna be your challenge. Emotions will rise that you are not used to. Challenge is taking charge, being master of emotions. Your last, final test/hurdle.

“Be aware you are not thinking too much about it. Become instinct. Natural. Turn hand right side up. Has to become second nature and it will. You will get too in head, too nervous. You’ll be able to do it. Like mastering spitting.”

The spirits were laughing now. Tracy hears the drums again–not Native American—bigger. She thinks of a clan sitting around one drum, bigger, rhythms like a heartbeat. “Listen to heart beat in drum. Way of calling all ancestors. Have that wild magic. Wild magic running through veins. You understand that. Are able to call it as well. Start practicing that. If it starts to feels too heavy, call on feminine energy.”

Regarding the feminine energy, Tracy sees letters. A name?

H E R M O T PH E

(Letters probably in that order, but there may be other letters in between. If anyone recognizes this name, please let me know.)

At this point, Tracy heard the sound of an opening door upstairs in her house, although when she briefly went upstairs to check, her dogs were not barking and were relaxed.

Tracy then sensed another name: “Odin, Ogen?” She heard more drums, hearing them along with storms. Storm clouds, announcing someone. Association with thunder and lightning. I thought immediately of Ogoun, and then of Agwe; both have been associated with thunder and lightning. Tracy did not think Agwe seemed right.

Now here’s an interesting note: This session, although it started late, was scheduled for 3/3 at 3:30pm. When we were originally scheduling the session in early February, Tracy said she liked those numbers.

Last week, a local Ifa practitioner sent out a group invitation for a service for Oggun (the Yoruba equivalent of Ogoun). The service was scheduled for March 3, at 3:33.

In closing, I just found out that there is a Rada fet next Saturday. I am not 100 percent sure that I am going as I write this, but I hope to attend.